Resources

Health Care Teams and Leaders

This flip chart
provides health care team members with practical support and guidance to help improve care and outcomes for overweight children.

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies

Limiting TV and other media use, encouraging infants and young children in preschool and child care to spend more time in physically active play, and requiring child care providers to promote healthy sleeping practices are some of the actions needed to curb high rates of obesity among young children (birth–age five), says this 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine
. The report recommends steps that should be taken by child care centers, preschools, pediatricians’ offices, federal nutrition programs, and other facilities and programs to shape children’s activities and behaviors. Policymakers, health care providers, and child care providers can counsel and support parents in promoting healthy habits in the home, the report adds.

Body Mass Index Website.

The CDC’s Body Mass Index
website has easy-to-use BMI calculators for adults and for children and teens.

Growth Charts Website.

The CDC has a Growth Charts
website to help pediatricians, nurses, and parents track the growth of children and teens according to CDC and World Health Organization standards.

Indian Health Diabetes Best Practice:Adult Weight Management and Cardiometabolic Risk Management and Diabetes.

Indian Health Diabetes Best Practice:Nutrition for Diabetes Prevention and Care.

The 2011 Indian Health Diabetes Best Practice: Nutrition for Diabetes Prevention and Care [PDF – 405 KB] gives programs guidance on improving: nutrition for diabetes care and prevention through education; provision of food; food gathering or preservation instruction; and evaluation of program successes and outcomes. This best practice recommends nutrition for any individual with diabetes or at risk for diabetes.

Indian Health Diabetes Best Practice:Physical Activity for Diabetes Prevention and Care.

The 2011 Indian Health Diabetes Best Practice: Physical Activity for Diabetes Prevention and Care [PDF – 507 KB] helps programs seeking to improve or increase physical activity among community members at risk for diabetes and people with diabetes and helps communities develop a structured physical activity program to produce measurable outcomes. This best practice describes physical activity recommendations for any individual with diabetes or at risk for diabetes.

Updated from July 2006 edition, this Medicare guide [PDF – 4.7 MB] shows how teamwork among health care providers, executives, and data entry and billing personnel makes a difference—not only to the health of patients by increasing access to nutrition services, but also to a clinic’s financial bottom line.

Indian Health Diabetes Best Practices:Youth and Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Treatment

The 2011 Indian Health Diabetes Best Practices: Youth and Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Treatment [PDF – 356 KB] describes recommendations for health care that serves youth (ages 2–18) who are at risk for, or have, type 2 diabetes. Organizations and communities that successfully implement these recommendations can expect to increase the number of youth at a healthy weight, reduce the number of new cases of type 2 diabetes, and improve blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid control in youth with type 2 diabetes.

American Indian and Alaska Native PediatricHeight and Weight Study Website: Training Guide.

This training guide illustrates correct procedures for weighing or measuring an infant or child.

The Practical Guide: Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults.

This practical guide
[PDF – 1.5 MB] describes how health care practitioners can provide their patients with the direction and support needed to effectively lose weight and keep it off. It provides the basic tools needed to appropriately assess and manage overweight and obesity. The guide includes practical information on dietary therapy, physical activity, and behavior therapy, while also providing guidance on the appropriate use of pharmacotherapy and surgery as treatment options.

National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality.

NICHQ’s
current initiatives focus on ensuring that every child receives care in a high-performing medical home, including the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity and improving perinatal care.

Screening for Obesity in Children and Adolescents:U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement.

The task force
recommends that clinicians screen children ages 6 years and older for obesity and offer them, or refer them to, intensive counseling and behavioral interventions to promote improvements in weight status.